BOLIVAR - No. 11 Drury used a monster first half to build a 20-point cushion and held off a late Southwest Baptist charge for an 84-69 victory over the Lady Bearcats in the Bank of Bolivar's annual "Highway 13 Cat Fight" rivalry game at the Meyer Center Tuesday night.

Coach Molly Miller's Lady Panthers shot 66 percent from the field in the opening half in rolling to a 50-30 advantage at the break in their season opener. 

SBU fell to 2-1.

The Lady Panthers led 24-14 after one quarter and doubled that lead by the halftime break on the strength of solid play from the bench, including freshmen Emily Miller, Josie Young and Adrienne Horn - all while returning All-GLVC and senior standout Annie Armstrong sat out the final four minutes of the first quarter and all of the second quarter with two fouls.

That luxury paid off in the end, as Armstrong stepped up and made a key conventional 3-point play, then nailed a 3-pointer and made all five of her free throws down the stretch - as you'd expect from last year's national FT percentage leader (.956) to help the Lady Panthers seal the win.

SBU had cut a deficit that got as high as 26 points (61-35, 5:40 left in 3rd quarter) down to seven (72-65) with 2:44 to go. But Armstrong answered with a 3-pointer on the next trip down the floor to push it back to 10, and the Lady Bearcats got no closer than nine the rest of the way.

"It wouldn't be a cat fight if it wasn't close," Drury coach Molly Miller said. "I think we got away a little bit from what we were doing and got complacent ... it wasn't with the same intensity. But I loved the heart we showed at the end ... and we continued to be aggressive."

Miller was especially pleased with the defensive work on SBU senior standout Dilonna Johnson, who made just 1 of 8 shots and finished with four points in 22 minutes. Johnson came into the contest averaging 22.0 points through SBU's first two games.

"They really listened to the scouting report the coaches put together and shut her down, and that was a big key in the first half ... she never got going," Miller said. "I'm proud of the girls for the way they all took their roles seriously and shut her down."

The teams tied at 34 on the boards, with Caylee Richardson adding 11 rebounds to her game-high 21 points.

Alice Heinzler - who hit 4 of 6 3-pointers - and Armstrong had 15 points each to lead the Lady Panthers, while Briana Jones and Addy Roller added 10 points each. Armstrong paced DU with seven rebounds despite playing just 24 minutes.

Drury is home on Saturday to face perennial MIAA and national power Washburn in a 5:30 p.m. tipoff at the O'Reilly Family Event Center for DU Sports Hall of Fame Day. The Lady Panthers will then play host to another MIAA power, Central Missouri, next Tuesday (November 24) in a 6 p.m. tipoff.

"I love how there's competition for us at the beginning of the year, allowing us to grow and get better," Miller said.